Cover Story
Hello, cannabis lovers.
In the five years since Michigan voters said “yes” to medical marijuana, a lot of things have changed. Michigan was the 13th state to legalize medical use of cannabis, and now there are 18, in addition to Washington state and Colorado, where it is legal for recreational use. Medical uses for marijuana are gaining acceptance…
Reviewing November’s Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913
Many Detroiters remember the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November of 1975. Others have heard the song by Gordon Lightfoot. Very few are aware of the deadliest storm to ever pound the Great Lakes. It too occurred in November, 100 years ago. The storm consisted of the same meteorological conditions that were described by…
City Slang: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. drops new song
Detroit pop-rock dup Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. have released a new single, “Don’t Tell Me,” two weeks after the release of the Speed of Things album. According to DEJJ’s Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott, “Before we even knew we were going to make a second album we began playing this song live almost two years…
Film Review: Enough Said
Enough Said | B+ Watching the opening shot of Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said, it becomes clear that the writer-director’s continued exploration of white suburban anxiety is tailor-made for audience members who, like the movie’s protagonist, drive Priuses. Or hybrid vehicles in general. Over the last 17 years, Holofcener has specialized in smart, lacerating comedies that straddle…
Reviewing Sick Puppies’ Connect
Maybe it’s because of that old industrial band Skinny Puppy, but the name “Sick Puppies” drums up thoughts of gnarly, ugly industrial punk – heavy as almighty hell and not at all pretty. So it’s incredibly disappointing that what we have here is a couple (one guy, one girl) of Australians who look like they…
Touch of North America
I spun the first track three times in a row (which took less than six minutes) in hopes of successfully deciphering the lyrics to extract some meaning. All I really came away with was the very last lyric: “sur-viiiiiive….” And that’s just what you’ll have to do to these quick, calamitous storms of hardcore punk…
Film Review: Rush
Rush | B There is an underlying existential dread at the heart of any good racing movie, an elemental relationship between a man, a car and the fickle, winding track that could, at any moment, irrevocably alter a life. Ron Howard’s impeccably crafted, technically masterful, and slightly numbing bit of Oscar-baiting drama is about that irresistible…
Film Review: Don Jon
Don Jon | B+ The Battle of the Sexes gets waged by clueless combatants in Don Jon, a sharp social satire masquerading as a silly sex farce. Our Jersey boy protagonist Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is oblivious to politics, sexual or otherwise, having reduced his interests down to the gym, his immaculate apartment, the corner…
City Slang: White Shag for MEOW con
Detroit rockers White Shag is heading to Austin, Texas, at the end of October for MEOW Con 2013 MEOW stand for Musicians for Equal Opportunities for Women. According to a statement, “The band will be playing a showcase during the conference where Suzi Quatro will be the keynote speaker. Laura Mendoza, the lead singer and…
What is THAT? – Oddities from the MT mailbox
Here’s the deal. Every day here at the Metro Times, our mail delivery includes CDs, books and all sorts of other promotional items. A lot of it we can use and review – local-interest music, DVDs, etc. But we also get a lot of weird and whacky items that just kinda build up. So that’s…
City Slang: Electric Six’s Mustang coming soon
The Electric Six will release its ninth studio album, Mustang, on October 8 through Metropolis Records. According to a press release, “‘Mustang’ is a word that represents power, resting comfortably in the depths of its ruggedness. It fearlessly possesses a level of machismo and testosterone that few phrases manage to reach. From the sports car…
Penguins flip young Wings the bird
Pre-season games are a weird thing. While the Joe Louis was far from full on Wednesday evening for the visit of the Pittsburgh Penguins, there were still a few thousand people in for an early hockey game, perhaps desperate to make up for the short season last time around. Beer, pizza and other food and…
12th Man Report: Three-peat
Catchers Alex Avila and Brayan Pena Nobody said it’d be easy. It wasn’t. But the Tigers finally clinched the AL Central title last night in Minnesota, making it their third-consecutive crown. Every time the Tigers got hot this year, the Cleveland Indians did the same. They were like that annoying fly in your office that constantly…
City Slang: Ten Detroit albums best heard high
We do have the Chronicle issue out this week, after all. It’s not a stretch to suggest that music and marijuana have been inextricably linked since, well, music and marijuana. From the jazz haunts and bordellos of early 1900’s New Orleans, through the Grateful Dead and its legions of ‘Dead-Heads’, and Cypress Hill’s complete reliance…
Electric Ladies (Janelle Monae and Neko Case’s latest)
Janelle Monae Electric Lady Wondaland Arts Society / Bad Boy Watch: Janelle Monae’s latest music video “PrimeTime” -ft Miguel Janelle Monae’s latest gives you everything and then some. The first song is titled “Give You What You Love” and this wildly innovative soulful smorgasbording songstress knows you probably love a whole bunch of weird stuff because…
Don’t Kill My Queen …
Meet Ronald Carter | Amber in the City A man stands, his whiskered-chin in hand, considering the next move on a chessboard with pieces two-feet tall. His name is Ronald Carter and he’s a home remodeler. He was in the middle of a chess game on a sidewalk in downtown Detroit. I asked whether I could watch…
Reviewing Dr. Dog’s B-Room
These guys are nothing if not literal. Their new album is called B-Room (Anti-), and on the front of the CD there’s a picture of a door to a room, marked “B-Room.” The band is called Dr. Dog, and on the back of the CD there’s a picture of the band with a dog. Sadly,…
Andrew WK
It has been 12 years since Andrew WK’s I Get Wet album and the accompanying hit single “Party Hard.” The success earned off the back of those records saw WK (real name Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier) tour the world and win over a shit-ton of new fans. More than a decade later, WK is as much…
Women Move to the Front of Pro-Pot Movements
Members of the group Michigan Moms United gathered outside the state Department of Human Services last week, along with other groups protesting the controversial removal of 6-month-old Bree Green by Child Protective Services from her Lansing family. The child’s father suffers from seizures and is a medical marijuana patient; her mother is a registered caregiver.…
Could Weed Solve the Deficit?
As U.S. lawmakers look for ways to balance the national budget, a new bill formally introduced to the Washington, D.C. council this week may provide the answer as a major source of tax revenue. The bill aims to legalize possession of marijuana for adults 21 and older, regulate sale and licensing, and tax the transactions…
The Michigan Marijuana Tour
The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, passed in 2008, made pot legal for patients with certain medical conditions. But the MMMA is not the only story in the state when it comes to legislating the cannabis plant. There are decriminalization efforts working their way around city by city, and some expect a statewide effort in 2016.…
The Artwork of Sarah Zagacki
Sarah Zagacki’s love of art began with a love of nature. On the camping trips, bike rides and hiking trails her father took her on all through her childhood, Zagacki gained a respect for natural beauty, sharpening her eye for realism. She now has a strong technical talent for faithful rendering what she sees. While…
Cannabis Cupcakes and more
FOOD THOUGHT Cannabis Cupcakes: 35 Mini Marijuana Cakes to Bake and Decorate Ten Speed Press, $10, 128 pp. One of the best ways to enjoy the medicinal benefits of the cannabis plant without all the cough-inducing smoke is with “medibles.” Baked into a treat, the good stuff goes right into your stomach, great for a…
Public Opinion Turns in Favor of Weed
The pro-weed public opinion bullet train has now entered the state of Michigan and has carried a majority of voters with it, at least according to poll data released earlier this month by Epic-MRA pollsters. A majority of respondents in the Sept. 13 poll, conducted by Epic-MRA for Michigan NORML, the state branch of the…
Tigers’ Goal: Home-Field Advantage
While the MLB regular season is in its final week, the stage has been set for a dramatic finish in the American League. There are six teams vying for two wild-card spots and it’s coming down to the wire. Fortunately for Jim Leyland and the Tigers, they’re not in that cluster. They have a commanding…
Mayoral Politics
Dear Editor: In the article, the author writes “There’s an undercurrent of race in this year’s mayoral race.” An undercurrent, excuse me; there’s more than an “undercurrent” of race — it’s right-in-our-face racial politics! When mayoral candidate Mike Duggan moved from Livonia, which was tagged as being the “whitest city in America,” moved into Palmer…
Clueless and Clitorless
Q: I’m a 23-year-old homo who came out one year ago. Life has done good and bad things to me. Good things include success in the intelligence lottery, a full ride to college and, now, a job with a six-figure income. Sadly, I find that my place in life is different from the place occupied…
In Defense of Dirt Weed
Don’t get us wrong here: We like most of what’s come with the medical marijuana revolution. The public accepts marijuana as medicine and, increasingly, as recreation. Many law enforcement folks feel they have more urgent priorities than chasing down peaceful pot smokers. And voters are making their voices heard across the country on the issue.…
Detroit designer draws inspiration from multiple avenues.
Leslie Ann Pilling says her overall philosophy has to do with fashion. “It comes from the street. It comes from couture. One of the ways Detroit is going to make a mark is if people start dressing up,” she explains. “If you put a suit on a gentleman or a dress on a woman, they…
24-hour munchie fixes in Detroit
It’s 2 a.m., and you’re baked. You used the last drop of milk in the fridge making chocolate milk with some three-year-old syrup you found behind the mayo, and you’re now eating Cheerios directly from the box. You don’t really want to get up and quit watching Golden Girls reruns, but your stomach is telling…
Pot Quiz!
Test your knowledge of pop culture, botany and the wacky weedus. Question No. 1: Which of these names is not an actual strain of weed? A) Velvet Elvis B) Cat Piss C) Toe Jam D) Redhaired Sonja Question No. 2: The psychoactive substance in weed that makes you get high is known by what acronym?…
Sushi Gallery
Sushi Gallery 1449 E. 14 Mile Rd. Madison Heights, MI 48071 248-291-5987 sushigallerymi.com Handicap accessible Appetizers & sushi: $1.75-$13.75 Entrées: $8.50-$16.50 Open 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Sundays. Sometimes it’s the little things that set a place a notch above the competition. Sushi Gallery, tucked away in a corner of…
Michigan Republican Watch
There’s a strong tendency among liberals, progressives, and others not actively hostile to intelligent thought (or at least literacy) to believe the Tea Party is destroying the state Republican Party. Destroying them, that is, as far as ability to win elections is concerned. Certainly the Teabaggers couldn’t care less about that. Their fast-emerging leader is…
A cancer patient’s journey with medical marijuana.
My mom Anne was born in 1957 to a very middle-class family in a very middle-class town. She graduated from high school and, as was the way back then, was married soon after. She did all sorts of normal things that teenagers did in the 1970s, like going to concerts and hanging out with friends.…
Detroit Legend Elmore Leonard
When it comes to Elmore Leonard and Hollywood, the 1980s were not kind to the late, great Detroit-area novelist. Perhaps his small-gauge (but always lethal) approach to suspense was a poor match for the more-is-more excess of a decade dominated by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger action flicks. Or maybe the appeal of his wickedly…
12th Man Report: Ann Arbor Worries
Ten days ago the Michigan football team was just a few seconds and a few yards from losing to Akron, one of the worst football teams in the FBS. The players and coaches alike, accepted responsibility claiming it was due to a failure in their preparation and then their failure in executing, etc. etc. There…
City Slang: Mack Avenue to release Cécile McLorin Salvant’s WomanChild on vinyl
Mack Avenue Records has announced that it will continue its vinyl release program with Cécile McLorin Salvant’s WomanChild on October 29. They say, “The program has released seven 180-gram vinyl LPs since it began in 2009, beginning with Christian McBride’s Kind of Brown and then returning in 2012 with McBride’s The Good Feeling as well…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, Metro Times, 733 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 46226. Email MP3s and streaming links to bcallwood@metrotimes.com. Goldbricksorgohome sent in a CD-R with a strip of masking tape across it bearing the web address, the whole thing wrapped in clear plastic and labeled Blue Ray Baby. We…
